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Came across this in the Brittany cancer-suicide discussion. At the same time I’m studying Levitical “scaling disease” law. How can we understand the experience of the unclean exile?

The “unclean” who live in exile (again distinct from the kind of unclean that doesn’t require eviction from the camp) in a sense act out a narrative that seems wholly unfair and even evil to Americans.

Americans have an implicit, individualistic narrative that puts ourselves at the center. We do really imagine that God ought to give us “our best life now”. That is God’s job. Ours is to bask in the enjoyment and the glory.

That reminded me of this video. Right from the start she notes that her path is to suffer and to be a witness in weakness.

While this is sort of a half-way house, still in a way and American narrative, it is also one which she imagines she will be “used” by God, used in a costly, painful, sacrificial way. This is deeply counter-cultural and will be hated and resisted.